In less than two weeks, Elizabeth Warren will graduate from Kealakehe High School, moving one step closer to joining her two older brothers as a NCAA Division I athlete.
Warren, who placed third in the 225-pound weight class at the HHSAA State wrestling championship in February, will play rugby at Lindenwood University — located in Saint Charles, Missouri, which is part of the greater Saint Louis metropolitan area.
Her oldest brother, Setu Vole, just graduated from Lindenwood with a degree in criminal justice — and played rugby for the Lions for four years.
“Since Elizabeth was in eighth grade,” said Leonard Warren, her father, “her goal has been to go play rugby at Lindenwood.”
Warren will join several other young women from Hawaii on the Lady Lions, who went 23-3 for the 2022-23 season before falling 17-14 to Life University in the final round of the CRAA Women’s Premier Sevens College Championship — the national championship of women’s college rugby.
In middle school, Warren played for the Kona Bulls and Kona Royals — but the pandemic and a lack of players joining those rugby clubs made it difficult for her to continue playing through high school. However, her father said that Lindenwood was so impressed by her middle and early high school film — as well as her wrestling record — that it offered Warren a scholarship to play rugby.
She will get to fulfill her dream of being a rugby player like Setu, who was part of the 2022-23 national runner-up men’s team.
Warren will attend Lindenwood alongside her other brother, Gareth, who has made an impact on the Lions’ football team’s offensive line.
As a freshman in 2021, Gareth was named to the Third-Team All-Great Lakes Valley Conference offensive line, and made four starts in six games played. He was part of an offensive line that ranked 30th in the country with 249 first downs — recording 32.6 points per game and guiding a passing game that averaged 249.1 yards per game.
Like all schools in Hawaii, Kealakehe was unable to field a football team during Gareth’s senior year (2020-21) — but as junior, he was an All-BIIF First Team selection.
During his sophomore year, Gareth participated in the Polynesian Bowl National Combine and Showcase, was invited to the Pro Football Hall of Fame High School Elite Division Session and took part in the All-Hawaii Bowl on Oahu. He received a full ride to play football at Lindenwood.
All three siblings have been athletes since their early childhood, and both of their parents were athletes as well. Leonard Warren helped coach his sons’ football teams since the Pop Warner level.
“We didn’t do it alone,” Leonard Warren said, “there was a lot of support from the community. You know the old saying ‘it takes a village.’”
Like his brother, Gareth is also a criminal justice major. Elizabeth will major in paramedicine. Lindenwood’s women’s rugby season will kick off in early September, just a few days after the first football game of the season.